- After his close friend and colleague A.G. Robinson is killed in a mountain climbing accident, Captain Archer tells T'Pol about the Warp 2 test flight almost ten years earlier.
- Enterprise receives word that Captain A.G. Robinson died in an accident. Archer and T'Pol take a shuttle to confirm a dark matter nebula that has yet to be discovered. Enroute to the nebula, Archer recalls the beginnings of Starfleet's NX program, including an unauthorized adventure with Robinson, Tucker and himself.—Meribor
- As Enterprise is about to investigate a dark matter cloud (which seems to be the first Dark Matter nebula to be ever discovered. T'Pol insists that the nebula cant be seen, but Archer proposes to ignite the dark matter with Metreon particles), Captain Archer is informed by Admiral Forrest (Vaughn Armstrong) that his former Starfleet colleague, Captain Robinson (Keith Carradine), has died in a rock climbing accident. Archer, seeking solitude, desires to travel into the nebula in a shuttle-pod armed with spatial charges to excite the dark matter. Sub-Commander T'Pol, noting that captains are prohibited from traveling off-ship unaccompanied (She obviously doesn't want to leave him alone), joins him and convinces him to tell the story of his friend Robinson and the Warp 5 program.
In a series of flashbacks, Commander Archer meets with Commodore Forest, and is informed that although he excelled in simulations, his colleague Commander Robinson has been awarded the test ship, the NX Alpha (Archer and RObinson were together part of the NX program, trying to break the warp 2 barrier. They all wanted the first flight and Archer was cocky enough to think that he would get it). Disappointed (Since his own father had designed the engine and it meant a lot to Archer that he be picked to test it), Archer goes to the 602 Club, a local bar, bumping into Robinson there (Who tells Archer that he didn't get selected as he tried too hard). Later, Robinson takes the scheduled flight aboard the NX Alpha, breaking the warp 2.0 barrier. He refuses a command from Forest to stop and instead increases speed; the craft soon destabilizes and is destroyed as it approaches warp 2.2, but Robinson escapes. The Vulcans argue that the warp program should be postponed, but Archer wants the program, and his father's engine research, to continue. Archer, and his new friend Lieutenant Tucker (Who defended the engine in front of the Vulcans), then go to the 602 Club to discuss the problem (Forrest says that star-fleet is considering putting the NX program on hold indefinitely). Robinson arrives and blames Archer's father (rather than admitting that he made a mistake by not shutting down at warp 2.2), and he and Archer end up in a fist fight.
The next day Archer discovers Robinson packing up the contents of his locker. He concedes that it is primarily an intermix problem, but that the engine could still work. Archer and Robinson then steal the NX Beta, with Tucker in flight control, but it starts to suffer the same issues as the Alpha. As Starfleet security detains Tucker, Archer and Robinson coax the engines to warp 2.5. Archer and Robinson are reprimanded, and the program is grounded for a year, but they have proved that his father's design was sound. 3 yrs later they broke warp 3 and 5 yrs later they lay the keel for the Enterprise.
Archer launches his final two charges into the cloud, and a breathtaking nebula slowly reveals itself. Archer calls T'Pol to watch the actual nebula with her eyes, rather than monitor it through the sensors. T'Pol mentions the human tradition of first discoverers of astronomical phenomena having naming rights. Archer makes a sarcastic crack about calling it the "T'Pol/Archer Nebula". T'Pol gently responds that she was thinking Archer could name it the "Robinson Nebula", after his friend.
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